Hatton BBBoC Boxer of the Year again by Eric Armit Nov 23rd 2007

The annual BBB of C Awards Dinner was held on Monday night at the New Connaught Rooms in London. As usual the attendance was high with many past and present World and British champions there plus other notables in the sport. I will not list them as I am sure to forget someone. The main award as Boxer of the Year went to Ricky Hatton. The other contenders for the Award were Enzo Maccarinelli, David Haye, and Joe Calzaghe. Because the Awards cover the 2006-2007 season achievements such as Joe Calzaghe beating Mikkel Kessler, David Haye beating Jean-Marc Mormeck and recent defences by Enzo were not taken into account, but will be considered when next year's Award is made. Joe, David and Enzo were all in attendance and received recognition in the form of a framed certificate. Ricky is obviously in training for the Mayweather fight and could not be present, but sent his thanks by a pre-recorded message. The contenders for “Contest of the Year” were the drawn bout between Chris Edwards and Dale Robinson, Freddie Curiel vs. Ross Minter and Jamie Moore vs. Matthew Macklin. All three contests were great and the award went to Moore vs. Macklin. Again each of the contenders for the award were presented with certificates. Matthew and Ross were there and although it must have been painful to see those contests again they both showed some humour and determination to get back on track in their short acceptance speeches. The Overseas Boxer of the Year Award went to the Canadian IBF super-bantamweight champion Steve Molitor for his win over Michael Hunter and he was in attendance to receive it and the Sportsmanship Awards went to Mark Thompson for his display both during and after his losing effort against Vincent Vuma. Special Awards for Services to Boxing were presented to Enzo Calzaghe for his great work at his gym down in Wales and to the former European and Commonwealth champion James Cook for his work with the local community. I had the pleasure, along with the President of the Commonwealth Council of presenting the Dennie Mancini Award to Bradley Pryce for his contribution to Commonwealth boxing as light-middleweight champion. David Haye was formally presented with his WBC championship belt and made it clear that the heavyweight title was his next target with no mention of any intent to defend his cruiserweight title. A raffle for some outstanding portraits, prints, cuff links etc. raised approximately £10,000 for the BBB of C Boxer's Benevolent Fund. In previous years the Amateur Awards have also been a feature of the Dinner, but this year the Amateurs have decided to promote their own Awards.

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